Thursday, May 28, 2009

You may recognize this quilt as it was on the cover of American Patchwork and Quilting several years ago and again on a calender. This is one of my favorite quilts although I wish it were a tad bigger. I use most of my quilts, but this one, because of the size, I don't'. And that's OK because I never get tired of looking at it and enjoying it.

I could have paper pieced those flying geese, but I didn't and I'm not sure why!!

I did a bit of hunting and found this in the April 1999 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine. It is designed by Cindy Blackberg.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

I was fortunate enough to see Kaye England at Sisters one year. I thought she was a hoot and was drawn to her quilts. I had been wanting to make a strippie quilt for some time and I saw that she would be teaching a class at the Stitchin' Post so I jumped at the chance.These are the quilts she brought with her.

This strippie reminds me of the really old busy fabric quilts that I love.

This little churn dash strippie is one I did in class.

This black one is one I made using blocks I received in a swap. I think I got the whole strippie thing out of my system.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

I had a hair appointment with my daughter in Portland on Friday and because I was in no hurry to get home I decided to visit a quilt shop I don't get to very often. As you'll see from the photos it is packed to the gills with decent priced fabric with lots of reproductions- well actually with a lot of everything!

This is the road that takes me to Country Manor Fabrics in Battle Ground, Washington. You really do need to know where you are going as you won't be accidentally driving by this store.

This is the only sign that tells you there is a quilt shop.Even as you turn in you might still be a little confused.

Hmmmm, still no sign. But straight ahead is the shop.

It's obvious once you walk in the owner isn't organized. But I will say, my trips there are few and far between but she always recognizes me and remembers I'm from Central Oregon.

One room is dedicated to fabrics on sale. Great prices too!

More overflowing fabric on sale. It really is amazing and kind of fun to dig through.

Needless to say I helped stimulate the economy.

This next shot is from Fabric Depot's Outdoor sale which runs most of the summer.

As you can tell it was a beautiful day. Here's Mt St. Helens, which is in Washington state. Beautiful Mt. Hood I get to see every time I go to Portland.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Saturday, May 23, 2009

When I started this blog I knew I wanted to keep it quilt related but some things are too funny not to share with my new online friends. I thought I'd post my goofy things on the weekend.This past week I got this book from my sister for my birthday. These are a few of my favorite pages.Click on any photo to get a better view.

Friday, May 22, 2009

You've seen these a few times on my blog but now they're done! I realize laying them on lumpy grass doesn't help them photograph well, but I really don't have a lot of options for hanging them up and showing them in decent light. The wool garden is already hanging up in my house and the feathered star is going to a friend for her birthday.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

This quilt was done at a class taught by Sally Frey. She likes to replicate older quilts that she has collected. I chose to do my quilt with reproduction fabrics. (you will start seeing a theme with the fabrics I choose for classes!) I love the half baskets on top and just the handle on the bottom.This was quilted by Bonnie Hunter.

This is Sally's vintage quilt. You can see the handles better in this photo. I love it! For me that is what makes these quilts so charming.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

I didn't think I really needed too many photos as many of you have seen this quilt. Done similar to Jane's and they pretty much look a lot alike. I do have a question. So it really doesn't take me another 10 years to get it quilted do you have any recommendations on how to quilt the plain triangles?

Janet convinced me to take a close up of the quilting. Maybe it will make beginners not feel too bad. I am quiltig each block as I get to it. I don't and never did (and never do) have a plan when I quilt. Once in a while I'll use a stencil, but not on anything like this. I'm not a very good photographer, but here it is.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

My love affair with Civil War Reproductions started with this book in 1997! In my small town we had a variety-type store, with clothing upstairs and gifts, bedding, games, toys and quilting stuff downstairs. We are not talking Ben Franklin fabrics but top quality fabrics. The owner was a quilter and it was a joy to go there. (Unlike the quilt shop we have in town now) I saw this book and was just completely blown away. I had been drawn to old quilts, but here was one that I might actually be able to make?! I think the price was $25- I left it. A few days, maybe a week or two I went back and bought it. What the heck was I getting into- line drawings for the blocks?! Yikes! I was part of an online quilt group and someone told me about a woman who was starting a little DJ list so we could help each other. This was before Yahoo groups and we might have even just cc'ed each other. This was before the DJ CD or DJ templates. Boy did I have a blast putting that together. I think it took about a year. This was also a great time to be a quilter that loved Civil War fabrics as it seems there was quite an explosion of them at the time. I've been hooked ever since.

Most of the blocks have little notes by them saying where it was appliqued, or whose fabric I had swapped and used. See my little old fashioned paper layout with my fabrics glued? Now a lot of you have these cool things on your blog with the blocks filled in that you've finished. It is an amazing quilt.So, you ask- where is yours Lori? Approximately one year to piece and 11 years to quilt it!!! And it's not finished!!! I laid it out last night to take a photo and I have 30 blocks to quilt plus all the triangles. What do you think? Another 10 years? Or maybe just 5.I've said before that the piecing or applique is what I really love, not the quilting. But I will persevere.Photo tomorrow!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Ginger Grove is a quilt made with wool and cotton by Sue Spargo and I really enjoyed making it. The one problem I did have was when I was machine quilting. Because the wool has so much "give" it really bunched and stretched and was so hard to quilt. After all the handwork I didn't want to ruin it with my quilting. I think it turned out OK, but would not machine quilt anything like this again.BTW, because I will not be washing this I did not use spray baste. I only use that if I know I can wash it out when I'm done.

Friday, May 15, 2009

I made the two sets of wool stars for the quilt shop at the end of January. They are quite a bit bigger then they look. The penny rug in front is one I've had for awhile.

I liked the stars, but didn't necessarily want to make one out of wool, so I used prairie cloth (similar to old homespun) and appliqued the wool house. I also stuffed it with wood shavings instead of polyfill. I am going to try crushed shells the next time I want to fill something. I don't like the stuffing and the shavings were a huge mess.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

This is one of my favorite wool applique that I've done. Unfortunately I cannot remember who the designer was. Such a simple piece but elegant too. This is the last penny rug I made. Ugh! I love it, but I would really like to find an easier way to cut the pennies. I heard that you can use a Sizzix machine, but I don't know anything about them and wouldn't know which one to get. (any help here?) Also, I actually had a design planned out with the color placement, but I mixed it up somehow, which shouldn't surprise me because I do that all the time putting quilt blocks together in rows.I hope you aren't getting bored with the woollies yet.